“The selling factor for me was the team…. There’s a secret tradition that the swim team does on [one of] the recruiting trips,” Tran said. “I can’t say what it is, but it really showed that the team was there for you and really unified, and that moment really pulled me in and led me [to verbally commit].”

Once verbally committed in this manner, at many other schools, swimmers would then sign a National Letter of Intent legally binding them to the school. But due to Harvard’s lack of athletic scholarships, the process for Crimson recruits occurs a little differently.

Like all other applicants, swimmers must apply via the normal applicant pool, whereupon they are typically issued what is known as a “likely” letter. These letters are essentially informal offers of admission, given the athletes’ academic and moral standards do not significantly drop.

The uniqueness of the Ivy recruiting process and the lack of athletic scholarships do not seem to be significant deterrents, however, for the recruits to Harvard swimming. This year, again, the Crimson have landed a deep recruiting class. IM and breaststroker Daniel Chang, the 45th-ranked recruit in the class of 2016, and backstroker Dean Farris, the 49th-ranked recruit headline the class of incoming freshmen.

“I chose Harvard because of the great relationship I have with [the coaches]...and the team,” Farris said in an interview with SwimSwam. “Also, I feel there will be the perfect balance of challenge in both the classroom and the pool.”

Behind the consistent strength of its recruiting efforts, Harvard has not lost a regular season dual meet since January 2014, and the Crimson finished second in the Ivy League championships last year to archrival Princeton after nabbing first the year before.

This season, the team has remained dominant, winning each of its first four matchups by a significant margin. Along with the Tigers, the Crimson are co-favorites to take home this year’s Ivy League crown. For Harvard, a championship would mark its 24th in school history.

Given the team’s past and projected success, it is not all that surprising that many of the recruits have no regrets about their decisions to come to Cambridge.

“I’m very happy with my choice,” Kim said. “If given [it] again, I would choose Harvard in a heartbeat.”